1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to fire hydrants and to attachments therefor, the use of which is intended to ensure that appropriate access to hydrant hose connections is maintained without sacrificing valuable adjacent parking space. More particularly, the present invention relates to the provision and use of structure for defining upwardly oriented hydrant hose connections, and/or to the provision and use of hydrant-connected, open-walled, cage-like structures for maintaining proper obstruction-free access space in regions that extend about the hydrant's hose connections so that fire hoses easily can be coupled thereto.
2. The Referenced Parent Case
Because the invention features that form the subject matter of the co-pending Parent Case provide the core of the subject matter that is disclosed and claimed in this continuation-in-part document, it is appropriate to attribute the benefit of the filing date of the Parent Case to such subject matter.
The terms "hydrant" and "fire hydrant" as utilized in the Parent Case and in the present document are not intended to be interpreted as restricting or limiting the use that is made of invention features to a particular form of fire hydrant. Rather, as those who are skilled in the art readily will understand, invention features that are disclosed in the Parent Case and herein can be utilized with a wide variety of forms of hydrants. Thus, the terms "hydrant" and "fire hydrant" should be interpreted broadly to include such water supply system components as define suitable structure unto which one or more fire hoses can be attached, typically by means of selectively releasable connections, for purposes of communicating the connected fire hoses with mains of waterworks, with standpipes such as frequently are installed in buildings, and the like that are employed to supply pressurized water to or from hoses for use in combating and extinguishing fires.
While familiar forms of fire hydrants of the type that typically are found at curbside locations along city streets (referred to hereinafter as "curbside" style hydrants) are duly depicted in the drawings of both the Parent Case and the present document in disclosing the "preferred form" and the "best mode presently known to the inventor" for carrying out invention practice, it will be understood that such invention features as are disclosed in the Parent Case and in this document are not limited in their applicability to any particular type, style, configuration or construction of hydrant. Thus, while hydrants having some component parts that are connected by means of threaded fasteners are described and illustrated, it will be understood that other suitable forms of fasteners can be substituted; and, likewise, while hydrants are described and illustrated that have threaded hose connections, other forms of hose connections can be substituted without departing from the scope and spirit of such invention features as are disclosed in the referenced Parent Case and in the present document.
3. Prior Art
There are three topics that need to be dealt with, at least briefly, to properly explain the nature of the problem that is addressed with elegance and simplicity by the system of the present invention. One topic has to do with how a conventional fire hydrant typically is constructed and used, for example the familiar curbside style of fire hydrant. A second topic has to do with reasons why "no parking zones" of considerable size have, through custom, come to be associated with locations where conventional fire hydrants are installed. The third topic has to do with the seriously detrimental effects that unquestionably have resulted from the increasingly severe shortage of much needed parking spaces in downtown areas of cities--and how these detrimental effects can be significantly alleviated by effectively addressing, in a novel and improved way, the first and second of these three seemingly unrelated topics.
A typical curbside style hydrant includes an upstanding, generally cylindrical body structure that has a number of features (some being principally ornamental while others are principally functional) that are arranged substantially symmetrically about a substantially vertical center axis of the body. The body usually is formed as a heavy, rigid, impact-resistant casting of metal that has a relatively large diameter passage formed substantially centrally therethrough extending between lower and upper end regions of the body. Hollow formations that project from the sidewall of the cast body of the hydrant usually are formed as integrally cast component portions of the one-piece cast body, and are configured to define hollow hose connections that communicate with the hollow interior of the body.
The hose connections of a typical curbside hydrant normally project from the body in an array of directions that radiate from the substantially vertical center axis of the hollow upstanding body of the hydrant. Ordinarily the hose connections of a hydrant are threaded, with the character of the threads being selected to meet such standards as facilitate the establishment of direct, threaded connections with threaded connectors that are provided at one or both of the ends of fire hoses, preferably without the need to make use of adapters, fittings or other supplemental hardware to quickly establish secure, leak resistant hydrant-to-hose connections.
Near the lower and upper end regions of the body, annular mounting flanges are provided for matingly engaging correspondingly configured mounting flanges of components that connect to the lower and upper end regions of the body. When a pair of mating mounting flanges are ready to be connected, bolts are installed through aligned holes formed through the mating flanges, and nuts are tightened in place on the bolts to form secure, leak-free connections between the mating flanges. At the lower end region of the upstanding body, a bolted connection between mating flanges typically is used to connect the hollow body to a hydrant supply pipe that depends from its point of connection with the hydrant body to an underground location (typically directly beneath the hydrant) where a valve is provided for selectively communicating the supply pipe with an adjacent water main.
Similarly, at the upper end region of the body, a bolted connection between mating flanges typically is used to connect the hollow body to a matingly-flanged crown-shaped cap. An opening typically is formed centrally through the crown-shaped cap, through which the upper end region of an elongate "valve stem" or "operating rod" extends. A suitable seal is interposed between the crown-shaped cap and the upper end region of the valve stem to prevent leakage therebetween while, at the same time, permitting the valve stem to be rotated relative to the crown-shaped cap. A tool-receiving formation is provided to enable the valve stem to be rotated relative to the crown-shaped cap. One type of tool-receiving formation that is widely used is a five-sided head formation that is designed to be engaged by a specially configured wrench.
The valve stem or operating rod depends from within the interior of the crown-shaped cap, extends along the central axis of the body of the hydrant, and depends into the hydrant's supply pipe where it operably connects with the valve that selectively communicates the supply pipe with an adjacent water main. When the valve stem is rotated about the central axis of the body in one direction of rotation, the valve opens to communicate the hydrant's supply pipe with the adjacent water main. When the valve stem is rotated in the opposite direction, the valve closes to terminate such communication.
When a fire hydrant of the aforedescribed curbside style is standing dormant, ready for use, the underground valve normally is closed, the hollow interior of the body of the hydrant normally is not filled with pressurized water, and the hollow hose connections normally are closed by removable caps. The caps are threaded onto the threaded hose connectors of the hydrant for keeping insects, rainwater, debris and other undesirable objects and substances from entering the hollow interior of the body of the hydrant when the hydrant is standing dormant. To aid in preventing unauthorized removal of the caps, each cap usually is provided with a five-sided tool-receiving head formation that can be grasped and rotated by the same specially configured wrench that is carried by authorized personnel for engaging and operating the five-sided tool-receiving head formation that normally is provided atop the hydrant's crown-shaped cap for rotating the valve stem of the hydrant. To prevent the hose connection caps of a hydrant from being lost or otherwise misplaced, it is customary to provide chains or the like to securely connect the caps to other components of the associated hydrant.
In use, hydrant hose connections to which fire hoses are to be coupled are uncapped. To ensure that the hydrant is working and does not contain debris or other unwanted material, pressurized water often is admitted briefly to the hydrant to "flush" the hydrant and check its operation before hoses are attached. After such a check is made, the supply of water is turned off so that fire hoses can be properly connected to the hydrant's hose connections. When the hoses have been extended along appropriate paths for use and are suitably connected to pumper trucks, to other lengths of hose, or to discharge nozzles, a steady flow of pressurized water to the hydrant is initiated by fully opening the hydrant's supply valve. As pressurized water flows into and through the hoses, some hose expansion and increase in hose rigidity will be noted.
Having dealt with the first of the three topics mentioned above, namely the typical construction and manner of use of a conventional fire hydrant, the second topic will be discussed briefly, namely the reasons why "no parking zones" of considerable size customarily have come to be associated with locations where conventional fire hydrants are installed.
Because conventional hydrant hose connections are oriented to project substantially horizontally rather than to project upwardly, it has become somewhat customary to view a fire hydrant as "requiring" a relatively large amount of open, obstruction-free space extending horizontally about the hydrant in order to accommodate horizontally extending reaches of hose, and in order to provide working space for the use by fire department personnel. While there is verity in the viewpoint that a limited amount of protected access space extending about a hydrant is needed in order to effect proper hydrant-to-hose connections, the view that quite a large space "must" be kept entirely open and obstruction free in order for a fire hydrant to be used to its full potential is without sound basis.
An understandably natural extension of the flawed viewpoint that a quite large open space "must" be maintained obstruction free to permit a fire hydrant to be used to its full potential is the equally flawed notion that the only approach that can be taken to ensure needed access to a hydrant is to provide a sizable "no parking zone" adjacent it. While a reasonable degree of access to the vicinity of a fire hydrant unquestionably must be provided, a fire is not fought by stationing a multitude of firefighters within the immediate vicinity of a fire plug. In fact, once hoses have been connected and the hydrant's supply valve has been fully opened, it seldom serves any useful purpose whatsoever for anyone to remain in attendance adjacent a fire hydrant.
Having discussed how fire hydrants are constructed and used, and having discussed why sizable "no parking zones" have come to be associated with locations where fire hydrants are installed, the reader's attention is directed to the third of the three topics mentioned above, namely the severe inadequacy of available vehicle parking space that is confronting many cities, the seriously detrimental effects that are resulting therefrom, and the significant benefits that clearly can obtain if the "no parking zones" that are located adjacent installations of fire hydrants could safely be eliminated--an objective that is addressed by the present invention.
While bringing into service a single pair of parking spaces adjacent a single fire plug may not represent much of a contribution in an effort to deal with the enormous shortage of available parking spaces that is faced daily in downtown areas of large cities, when a pair of restored parking spaces per fire hydrant is multiplied by the tens of thousands of fire hydrant installations that populate the downtown areas of large cities, the cumulative result is a very dramatic increase in the total number of available downtown parking spaces. If vehicles could be parked in the areas that traditionally have been designated as "no parking zones" adjacent fire hydrants, and if this could be done while maintaining such reasonable access as is needed to ensure that fire hydrants can be used safely, reliably, and to their full potential, the significant number of available parking spaces within the downtown area of a city could be increased by as much as ten to twenty percent.
Presently, however, due to acute parking space shortages, commuters often must wait long periods of time and/or conduct time-consuming, fuel-consuming searches to locate needed parking spaces. In downtown areas, parking garages often fill to capacity early during weekdays and/or charge such stiff parking fees (to provide a reasonable return on the rental on property that typically costs in excess of $30,000 per parking space to build) that many commuters simply must make use of parking lots and on-street parking spaces that are located lengthy, inconvenient distances from the commuters' final destinations. Fuel spent by commuters in searching for hard-to-find parking spaces is fuel that, in the public interest, should not be wasted and should not be burned for it adds significantly to air pollution. Time spent by commuters in searching for hard-to-find parking spaces, and in walking long distances to and from parking spaces that are unduly remote is time that, in the public interest, could be put to far more productive use. Dangers encountered by commuters who have no choice other than to walk lengthy distances to and from unduly remote parking spaces are dangers that are in the public interest to eliminate.
While the reasons enumerated above clearly justify the taking of all reasonable steps to address the genuine and increasing need for readily accessible downtown parking space, still another justification resides in the significant increase in revenue for a city that can result from adding between about ten to twenty percent to the city's annual revenue received from parking meters and from rental of parking space in municipal lots and parking garages. At a time when cities are so very much in need of income, and when it clearly is no longer necessary to preserve sizable "no parking zones" adjacent fire hydrants when such space can safely be used both to produce significant revenue and to enhance the availability of premium downtown parking spaces for vehicles, the time is at hand for cities to utilize their "no parking zones" to significant advantage as revenue producing property.
In addition to adding directly, immediately and significantly to the revenues that cities receive on a daily basis from rental of vehicle parking spaces, still another revenue enhancing advantage that obtains from increasing the availability of premium downtown vehicle parking space by between about ten to about twenty percent is the significant increase business that is experienced by downtown merchants if easy-to-find, nearby, on-street parking is made available for use by potential customers. Stated in another way, adding an additional ten to twenty percent to the availability of premium downtown parking space has a positive economic impact that extends well beyond the significant resulting increases in income from parking space rentals.
Thus, while the problem of providing needed vehicle parking space has confronted the public for many years; while the problem and its detrimental effects are becoming increasingly more serious; and while reasonable steps to address these issues would have been taken long ago if an appropriate solution were known, no prior proposal has provided an appropriately simple, inexpensive and easy-to-implement solution. Nor have prior proposals taken the novel approach of addressing "parking problems" by utilizing fire hydrant improvements that are designed to ensure that ready hydrant access is maintained without an attendant need to sacrifice of adjacent vehicular parking space.